Global Marijuana Market to Reach $146 Billion by 2025, Says Report

The global legal marijuana market is expected to reach $146 billion by end of 2025, according to a new report by California-based research company Grand View Research. Growing adoption of marijuana in several medical applications such as cancer, mental disorders, chronic pain and others is expected to propel the revenue growth in the near future.

Legal marijuana has started gaining traction worldwide due to very high demand among consumers and increasing legalization of recreational or medical marijuana in various countries. High public and private investment for research and the development of safer forms of consuming marijuana such as tinctures, oils, vaporizers and edibles are expected to positively reinforce market growth.

The number of conditions treated using medical marijuana is growing rapidly, and as new patients are added to the market, the demand for medical marijuana is expected to increase multiple folds over the forecast period. Countries like Canada and the U.S. are moving towards legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes. This in turn is expected to create a large shift in demand from medical to recreational marijuana. Lengthy purchase and approval process for medical marijuana and ease of availability of recreational marijuana is expected to trigger this this change.

Further key finding from the report:
• The U.S. legal marijuana market size was estimated at $7.06 billion in 2016 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 24.9% from 2017 to 2025
• Medical marijuana emerged as the largest marijuana segment in 2016 and is estimated to be valued at $100.03 billion by 2025
• By product type, the marijuana flower segment was found to be dominant in 2016 with revenue share of 62.9% and is estimated to be valued at $82.9 billion by end of 2025

The legal marijuana market is witnessing strong technological and information exchange. Countries like Canada, the U.S., Germany and Australia are expected to emerge as leading markets in terms of sale, whereas countries like Israel are focusing on research and technology development and are leveraging on knowledge transfer.